A study was undertaken to see if there were any genetic or racial differences in the rate of alcohol metabolism between a group of southwestern American Indians and a group of Caucasians. The rate of alcohol metabolism was determined by oral alcohol tolerance tests. Blood alcohol determinations were done by gas-solid chromatography. The major findings from this study included no difference in the rates of alcohol metabolism between the group of southwestern American Indians and Caucasians. This casts doubt on previous reports which state that there were differences in the rate of metabolism of alcohol between Indians and Caucasians.